


The Light

by AdieSmed (annelea)



Series: Battle Symphony [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Attempted Murder, F/M, Infanticide, M/M, Mental Conditioning, Mental Link, Murder, Palladin Pile, Polyamory, Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-18
Updated: 2017-08-19
Packaged: 2018-12-16 21:38:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11837553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annelea/pseuds/AdieSmed
Summary: Companion piece to Coming Undone.  This is where I'll put any Non-Shiro POV bits that pop into my head.  First chaper is the former chapter 5 of Coming Undone.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Deleted chapter five of Coming Undone to make this piece instead. Coming Undone should really focus on Shiro's point of view. This will be bits and pieces from everyone else's.
> 
> Title is because of Disturbed's "The Light"

Pidge had made a move to follow when Keith took Shiro out the door.  Matt grabbed her by the wrist, and she shook him off, only to be stopped by her two oldest friends in the universe.  Hunk stood in front of the door, and Lance wrapped his arms around her from behind, trapping hers between her body and Hunk's.  The guys had her sandwiched between them for two reasons.  One, to keep her from summoning her bayard.  The second was the fact that being squeezed into small spaces tended to trigger her to slow her breathing and think.  Despite still being the smallest member, and often relied on to get into small spaces, she actually had clostrophobia.  Her way of dealing with it, however, was to slow down and find a way out.  If she didn't have one within an hour, then she'd actually panic.

"What are you doing, Pidge?" Lance asked in her ear.  "Let Keith handle him."

"I can help," she protested.

"He's Keith's and Matt's responsibility.  They wanted to keep trying to find him.  We don't need to get involved.  Let them handle it.  You know what happened the last time we trusted one of them too early."

Her head fell into Hunk's chest.  One of Lance's hands had slipped to caress her stomach, something she only allowed these two to do.  His hand brushed the newest puckered scar at the lowest part of her stomach, and she flinched, like she always did since it happened.

"Pidge, it's too soon to trust him.  Even if he really is the real Takashi, what's to say he'll have any memory of this?  What if he does have the clones' memories and just isn't saying anything?  We can't know yet.  Please.  Don't go weak on me and Hunk yet.  We have to stay united on this.  Let Keith play the dangerous game.  He's the one who will make the ultimate call.  Him and Matt, and your dad once he gets back to us.  They're the only ones who knew him from before.  They're the only ones who can figure it out.  Until then, we stay united."

"Please, Pidge," Hunk kissed the top of her head, rubbing her shoulders.  "Don't go after him.  I know you want to help, that you know how to help him through this.  Still.  You helped Matt and Mr. Holt.  It's not your responsibility this time."

She was openly crying now.  She tried to keep her eyes off of him when he came in.  She tried not to stare too much when he openly dug into the food.  She tried not to feel anything.  She had to help.  Possible threat or not, he sounded, moved, and even smiled the way the last clone had, the way all the clones had.  Even knowing the last one was a clone, she had let herself be compromised, fell in love with him, was accidentally (?) having his child.  Things started going wrong after she got too far along to pilot in confrontations or really do anything to help from anywhere except the labs.  It had climaxed in him attacking her, Allura putting him down herself.

The baby didn't make it.

The child would have been perfect, proving the accuracy and detail the Galra put into the clones.  She would have been healthy, dark haired, and had a little button nose.  Only two more weeks or so and she would have been delivered properly.  Instead...  The Clone Shiro had stabbed through Pidge and into the child.

The one chip in his brain Coran had missed had activated, literally flipping the switch in the Clone's mind.  Everyone was so excited and anxious about the upcoming birth that they were distracted from pretty much everything.  The Clone had found time to make several setbacks on their work, brushing off the intentional mistakes as baby nerves.  Then, when they were ambushed by a Galra attack ship, everyone was rushing to fight except Pidge who went to the command deck with Coran.

It seemed like he was fighting with himself over something, couldn't quite control his movements.  Then, a calm settled over his features, and the known clone that Pidge had fallen for anyway, stabbed her, deep, and twisted.

They all understood, hours upon hours later when reviewing the security feed, that he really did have a switch flip, more than one.  Pidge forgave him, even after thanking Lance and Hunk for killing him.  She still thanked them.  Keith and Allura were already too embroiled in the fight outside to do anything, to hear anything until Coran's panicked voice had called them back.

After that day, they used what was left of the clone's body to fine tune medical scanners to note any and all, even microscopic, differences between human and clone, and to find any and all implants that could be activated.  It was because of this research, Coran had told them over tonight's dinner before Keith had brought Shiro in, that he was able to effectively find everything in this Shiro.  He was also able to confirm on a deeper level than Matt, that this Shiro was more human than any clone they had met.  One particular part of the way the calcium in his bones affected some other part on a molecular level spelled the difference.  This Shiro, also, had arthritis, an ailment the Galra couldn't reproduce well in their clones.

"Come on," Hunk picked her up.  "We'll get you to Green.  You and I can spend some time replacing those frayed wires you pointed out last time.  Sound good?"

Lance waited until Hunk had taken her out a different way than Keith had pulled Shiro before turning on Matt.  "Maybe you should take the opportunity to reprogram one of Pidge's reprogrammed drones to keep a constant eye on him.  Make up some excuse like... it can help him find his way around the castle, or it can get help if he needs it until he's recovered or some shit like that.  But, what you're really going to do, is program it to keep him away from her.  As a matter of fact, keep him off the training deck and out of all the Lion's hangars unless their Paladin is with him and gives direct permission.  And keep him off the Command Deck.  Don't need him fooling with anything in there, either."

Matt wanted to punch him.  He wanted to hit Lance so hard right now, for daring to touch his sister like that.  Matt wasn't there on the castle when all of this happened.  He had been with his father on another Balmera, trying to find a way to heal it without Allura's help.  It was sick, not dying, so there was hope.  The Holts had gotten back two months later when the Castle of Lions came for them.  He didn't know that Pidge was nearly as close physically to the other Paladins as she had been with the clone Shiro.

"That has already been done, Lance," Allura spoke for the first time.  "There was never a question about those areas.  However, I believe that Pidge needs a chaperone as well.  One of the breathing kind.  We can't risk her trying to kill him before he has a chance to prove himself."

"And I don't see a reason not to trust him," Matt spoke out again.  "All the clones came in ready to kick ass.  This guy is weakened mentally and physically.  He's not in perfect condition the way the real Shiro was when we were first captured.  He's got more scars, and he's worn down like humans do after so long.  I believe it is him."

"Matt, make the drone Lance asked for," Allura commanded.

Lance didn't leave until he was sure Matt was headed to the correct lab for a drone.  He went to the training deck.  Briefly, he wondered when he had gotten to be the way Keith used to be, spending so much time physically working out his frustrations.  It didn't matter.  Pidge was in good hands.  Shiro was being watched.  Allura was already thinking like him before he could.  Coran...  Well, Lance was sure he was probably still looking over the scans he'd gotten from this batch of rescues.


	2. Chapter 2

"This isn't the right way."

"I know," Hunk patted her back, adjusting his other hand under her thighs.

Pidge clung a little tighter, burrowing her nose into his neck.  "Why do you always let Lance do that to me?"

"Do what?  Talk sense into you?"  He put her down before her own door.  "Look, I get it.  You want to hate him.  You want to hod him.  But, you have to remember, this guy doesn't know us.  We don't know him."

She was silent for a while, then looked up, only to his chin.  Looking him in the eyes was too hard right now.  "We really do need to replace those wires in Green."

"Yeah."

"Why did you bring me here?"

"Thought you might like to use your interface to create some lock-outs first."

"I already did that.  He can't see beyond a certain point in any of our data.  He can't get to key areas of the castle without an escort, either."

Hunk smiled down at her.  "Good to know."

"Come on, I don't want to rest."  Pidge lead the way, partially back the rout they had come, towards Green.

 

* * *

 

 

Having gotten Shiro settled back into his quarters, Keith checked around the labs and then the Lion's hangars.  He found Hunk curled up, drooling on the floor near Green's left rear paw.  Pidge was draping a throw blanket over the large snoring puddle.  He watched her place a kiss on Hunk's cheek.

"Hey," she greeted softly, walking up to the door where he still stood.

"You okay?" he questioned, looking down at her carefully.  "Lance said you tried to follow me."

She nodded, looking down at his feet.  Since they had identified Shiro, then worked to re-power his pod, looking the others in the eyes had become a difficult thing for her.  There was this fear, settled deep in her chest, that hadn't been there in over a year.  The last time she felt this way was while recovering from the Clone Shiro's attack.  Back then, she couldn't shake the feeling that one of the other guys would attack her next, that one of them would take advantage of her extra weak state to finish the job he'd started.

Of course, none of them had.  They backed off when she needed space.  They cradled her when she needed to be held.  They forced her to eat and to rest.  They encouraged her to build up her strength again, to get back in Green and join them in the fight once more.

Keith pulled her into a hug, gentle, but firm.  Whenever one of them pulled her close, she didn't fight it.  Leaning into him, she could feel Green relax in her mind, feel Black step in through her bond with Keith to wrap his own protective feelings around her psyche.  Over the years, all of them had been accepted to some degree by all of the Lions.  The Lions would reach out to whomever was closest if their chosen Paladin was in need of aid.  At first, they had communicated with each other to talk to the humans.  Now they just reached out directly.

"Come on," Keith gave the top of her head a small kiss, the same as she had given Hunk.  "It's late."

"I don't want to sleep," she admitted.  "I feel like taking Green out for a patrol, but Hunk shouldn't be disturbed."

"So, let him rest.  We'll go out in Black."

"Okay," she pushed back to stand on her own again, walking from Green's hangar in the general direction of Black's.

Keith fell in beside her, putting an arm around her shoulders as they walked.  It wasn't often that he reached out like that, or even accepted someone else doing the same.  She knew he had to be feeling pretty rough if he was reaching out.

Most of the time, when he reached out for physical touch, he just wanted to be held for a while.  Pidge or Lance would drag him somewhere to recline and just run their fingers through his hair until he fell asleep.  Hunk would sit with Keith's legs in his lap and give the guy a foot rub.  If they were going out in Black, though, Pidge wasn't sure what to do.  The last time they had gone out just to spend alone time in one of the Lions, they'd sat back to back in their suits, admiring a nebula from the center, resting on Green's head.

This time, though, it didn't seem like they'd even make it out of the castle.

Keith was in rare form tonight, actually stopping her before they got into the cockpit to gently lean in and kiss her lips, holding her body close to his.  She knew what he wanted.  He'd only be gentle for a little while.  Being gentle was saved for later, for the time while his mind tried to pick up the pieces while his body lay boneless.  Right now, though, these little kisses were a question.  Did he have her permission?


End file.
